A Teen’s Story

Does weight problem cause health problems in our teens? This subject is becoming a very worrying concern. Within the next decade we may see nutritional and physical related disease epidemics. With this comes a great cost -- measurable in dollars and a growing strain on the health care system. Not to mention the human cost brought about by earlier incidences of heart attack, diabetes, stroke, and other diet and lack of physical related diseases. Teen health has been declining in recent years primarily because of an increased incidence of obesity and other weight related problems. In the past this wasn’t a concern. So why the sudden increase in overweight teens?

The teen health issue involves much more than just a nutrition problem. Sure, at the core, the answer to the teen health issue is very simple. Teens are overweight because they don't get enough exercise and they eat badly, causing many different health problems. There are also economic and social issues that only make the teen health situation worse. There's no doubt that the disappearance of physical exercise programs and after school activities from the school curriculum play an important role in poor teen health. Preventing teen health problems through a properly structured exercise and nutrition program is now being recognized by physicians and health professionals worldwide as a good choice.

This brings me to a teen’s story; C is a fourteen year old teen who started experiencing what most boys experienced while being in their teens, if you are a parent, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, so I will not bore you with the details. I sat down with C one day and asked him to tell me about what he thinks and feel about his accomplishments over the last ten months since he started a regular exercise program and started eating sensible. C has been working out and changing his way of eating and how he feels about himself. “My workouts are one of the most important things I do. It helps me get the stress out of my day and let out some steam, especially when I lift the weights. It is not only the physical part of my work outs that I enjoy; it’s talking with my trainer. This helps me let the steam out of my day just like the weights do. When I first started working out my goal was simple, lose weight. Now that that has been accomplished to an extent my goal changed to getting ready for football. When I decided that I wasn’t going to play football until tenth grade I went back to my first goal, just losing more weight and defining my muscles. But the one thing that was always one of my goals ever since I started working out wasn’t a physical goal, but a mental one; to gain self-confidence. Having my workouts has always benefited me and I think they always will. If I don’t choose a career with physical aspects like baseball or football, I will still have the confidence that I gained doing the workouts and talking with my trainer”. Therefore, as you can see, C is happy with what he has accomplished. If only more teens can experience C’s most important accomplishment, working out to achieve a physical goal as well as a mental one so they too can gain self-confidence. If you have comments or questions about this blog or about this other blogs or just want to talk about your teen situation, write us a comment. Until next time, “Take Care of You”.

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